Consumer Marketing Academy Student Members

Brandelyn Heath

On the CMA

I realized that brand management is something that I want to do and that the Consumer Marketing Academy would prepare me for a career post-MBA. In addition, the structure of the CMA would give me exposure to life as a brand manager, and that was important to me. I also spoke with other second-year students who informed me how prepared they were for their internship because of the CMA.

My Bio

Since I was making a switch from industrial engineering to marketing, I was concerned about being at a disadvantage from my peers who had a marketing background. However, the CMA puts everyone on a level playing field and even exposes those with marketing backgrounds to things they didn’t know. One of the reasons I chose Kelley was because of its reputation for supporting its students.

Prior to starting business school, I attended a marketing summer camp at a major CPG company. At the end of that camp I had the opportunity to interview for an internship. Prior to my interview, Kelley alums at the company reached out to me to ensure that I was ready and that I had my story together—that is just one of the examples of the support you can find at Kelley.

The CMA provided me with exposure to recruiters from companies that I was interested in working for such as Nestlé, General Mills, and P&G. I had the opportunity to learn from various CPG companies on how they do brand management at their companies. In addition, I had the opportunity to network with company executives to talk to them about their career paths and opportunities for employment—that doesn’t happen at most places.

If you put the time and energy into learning from Ray Luther and Jonlee Andrews, co-directors of the CMA, you will be 100 percent prepared for your ideal marketing career, post MBA.